Underdog
by Palaemona
Summary: "To put this badge on," Toph's fingers traced the glistening piece of metal, "Means to decide. You pick the right and wrong, and you judge and condemn."


**The Underdog**

/…/

When Lin was a child, she was afraid.

The city was filled with dangers, and her mother danced in the thick of it.

_(It was a pounding throb that filled her, filling her slowly. Metal tasted like fear and strength, and filled her senses with a burning terror.)_

/…/

Her mother casted shadows over the ground, and a slight echo followed her. The Earth sang to her tune, and Lin followed obediently. The crowds would part, allowing the two through. Whispers reigned down upon them, and she stiffened. Her heart began to pound, and her hands morphed into fists.

Her mother walks a fine line, suspended over law and rules. Death and murders and lies cling to her footsteps, and she battles justice before her. Lin has little place in the world beyond, and little say.

She follows though; she follows the rules and plays by the expectations. She earns her place.

_(She strives and strives, and forces herself along the path. Her mother watches silently, and she ignores the eyes. The world is cold, the world is hard. Lin swears to become harder and colder.)_

/…/

"Why'd you ever go into law?" Lin once asked when she was a child. Her bare feet dangled from her chair, and a metal coin sat before her. The idea of her headstrong Mother founding and creating the law was a strange notion.

She remembered Toph's laugh. "To give the Underdogs a fair shot."

"The Underdogs?" The odd answer had made her sit slightly straighter.

"To put this badge on," Toph's fingers traced the glistening piece of metal, "Means to decide. You pick the right and wrong, and you judge and condemn."

"Judge who?"

Toph's smile faded. "That'd the question, isn't it?"

_(She doesn't know what is right and what is wrong, and she can't judge the condemned. Instead, she takes the badge and forges her own way through the slew of darkness.)_

/…/

"You've got a heart of a lion, kiddo." Toph smirks.

Lin smiles back, flinging the metal coin she stole from Sokka into a wall.

_(She wants to be like her mother. In the end, that's all that ever mattered.)_

/…/

She and Tenzin found each other easily like puzzle pieces. They nestled into each other's side, smoothed to the roughened blows they traded.

But in the end the puzzle crumbled away, and she was left bitter and churning with resentment, and Tenzin with Pema, her womb swollen with life.

Lin resented her for that. The ability to give life. To create.

She never could.

_(She controls the metal, twisting it and turning it. She grapples higher and higher, lifting herself to the heavens. The metal shakes and trembles, and she cries out. She rages and screams, shivering. The world is cold, and she turns to ice.)_

/…/

Toph dies, her flesh burnt away. Killed on duty, they whisper.

They bury her in the Earth, and the Earth swallows what was left of her mother.

She arrives and leaves, wiping dry eyes.

_(She's through with crying. She only resents.)_

/…/

When the _new_ Avatar comes to her city, she resents her.

Aang was calm and ready, but _she_ is like fire. Destructive and unleashed, carrying wave after wave of destruction.

She attacks and leaves devastation in her wake. An entire street reduced to ash and char, and a store left in ruin. She lets her men hunt the Avatar through _her_ city, and smirks at the outcome.

_(There's a touch of Aang in her eyes. The solemn grey glistens through the startling blue. She resents Korra for stealing away Aang from the world._

"_Thanks," Korra calls to her. _

_She looks away.)_

/…/

Amon sweeps power over her city, reducing it to opposing sides. Darkness rules, and fear begins to reign. Her Mother's legacy has turned to ash, and she feels anger building within.

Coldness grows and grows, and she weaves through her opposition like any Airbender would. Swiftly, she began to use her power with determination.

She sheds her badge.

She sheds her Mother's legacy.

_(She's picked her side, and she shuts her eyes. Her mother's words begin to make sense, and she begins to understand.)_

/…/

They fly through the winds, and Amon's men pursue her. They fly recklessly, and she stands boldly.

Her city lies behind them, her Mother's grave and her childhood. Before her lies the ultimate price. Below her is all that she runs from.

The choice is hers to make.

"_You pick the right and wrong, and you judge and condemn."_

She looks over her shoulder and swallows. Large eyes peer up at her, and Pema's womb is swollen with another piece of life. Tenzin stammers out words, trying to keep her from carrying out her Mother's life.

Her heart begins to pound, a dull throb building within. The air tastes like metal, vibrating with fear and strength. Her senses are filled with a terror she can't describe, and she tries to pass off a watery smile.

She lunges off the Bison, lifting into the air. Her metal rods carry her through the plummet, and she glides gracefully. She doesn't relent. She doesn't stop. She attacks with rage and loathing, ripping through the metal.

But in the end, she fell to her knees.

Her eyes burn with loathing, and she tilts her chin up with defiance. She glares in the face of hell, and smirks.

"_You've got a heart of a lion, kiddo." _

Her heart doesn't feel as heavy, nor as cold.

It feels warm.

_(She accepts the end, and she smiles.)_

/…/

Her eyes shut, and her breathing slows. The Earth becomes silent, and the world hushes.

She's made her choice. She's picked the right.

/…/


End file.
